API-211: Program Evaluation

Schedule

Day

Time

Location

First Day

1/5

Meet Day

GSE

Review

Description

As school
districts and state agencies accumulate quantitative student
outcome data, demand for evidence of impact will grow. All of us
must learn to be critical consumers of quantitative evidence of
impact. The key challenge when evaluating the impact of an
education policy or program is to identify what would have happened
if that policy or program had not been implemented. There are a
number of different approaches to constructing a plausible estimate
of what would have happened, using experimental or
quasi-experimental techniques. In this course, we will have three
goals: to gain insight into the strengths and weaknesses of
different evaluation designs, including experimental and
quasi-experimental techniques; to develop the skills required to be
a critical reader of impact evaluations; and to develop the ability
to more clearly recognize opportunities for impact evaluations in
education and to implement policies in a manner that would be
amenable to evaluation. During the course, we will read and
critique a number of impact evaluations, replicate the results of
several evaluations, and design evaluations of educational
programs. The course will focus on quantitative impact evaluations,
as opposed to qualitative or process evaluations.Prerequisite:
Successful completion of S-030 or S-040, or prior equivalent
training in multiple regression.

Also offered
by the Graduate School of Education as A-164. Permission of the
instructor required. Enrollment procedure will be posted on the
course website: